Harpooning device.



s. COLEMAN.

HARPOONING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 6, 1909.

y Witneooe'o Patented Sept. 13, 1910.

2. n .n m m n am .H c T m i d M W E u a d UNITEI) STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL COLEMAN, orv LEXINeP'IoN, MISSISSIPPI, AssIGNoR To B. o. FARB, oFLnxING'roN, MISSISSIPPI.

HARPOONING- DEVICE.

Application vfiled. August 6, 1909. Serial No. 511,544.

Spec-cation of Letters Patent,

Patented Sept. 13, 1910.

of Mississippi, have invented certain newV and useful Improvements inHarpooning Devices; and I dohereby declare the following' to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention,.such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

The invention relates to a device for har pooning fish and moreparticularly to the class of harpoon shooters.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a device of thischaracter in the form of a gun in which a harpoon is adapted to beinserted and that will be ejected therefrom by a trigger actuated springmechanism to give the necessary velocity to the harpoon as it is ejectedfrom the n. i gl,11n connectionr with a device having the abovecharacteristics, the invention aims as a further object tolprovide anovel construction, 'combination and arrangement of parts.

'In the drawings accompanying and forming lpart ofV this specificationis illustrated the preferred form of ,embodiment of the invention, whichto enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention will beincluded in the following description, while the novelty of theinvention will be pointed out in the claims succeeding the description.

However lit is to be understood that minor changes, variations andmodifications may be made such as come properly within the scope of theappended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention orsacrificing any of its advantages. l i

In the drawings z-Figure 1 is a side elevation of the invention the samebeing partly broken away. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof and partlyin section. Fi 3 is a* sectional view on the line 3-143 o 'Fig. 2. Fig.4 is fa sectional view on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1 looking inthe directionof the arrow. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 6y is a side-elevation ofthe harpoon.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views in the drawings.

In the drawings the ,numeral 10 -desig oft egun.

naties the stock or handle of a gun constructed in accordance vwith theinvention and the numeral 11 designates the main shooting barrel fixedto the stock or handle in any suitable manner. The stock orhandlecontains a chamber 12, the same having communication withthebarrelll, by a bore 13, which latter leads to the said barrel 11,through the inner end thereof. Journaled wit-hin the chamber 12, u on aspindle 14, is a winding and unwin lng pulley 15, to

whichv is connected a flexible cord 16, that is adapted 'to be woundthereon and un- `woundtherefrom and this cord has its opposite endyfixed to an eye 17, formed at the inner reduced end of a needle lshapedharpoon 18, the opposite outer end'of which being pointed as at 19, sothat it will penetrate an object when contacting therewith. The harpoon18, is adapted to be received in the barrel 11,y and ejected therefromin the manner as will be hereinafter described. Pivoted in a suitablerecess in the harpoon by a pinv20, is a iin or catch wing `21 the samenormally held projecting from one side of the harpoon by a spring 22 andthis the harpoon when penetrated in an object.

,Fixed to the spindle 14, of the pulley 15, is a pinion 23, which latteris adapted to be alternately engaged by opposed rack teeth 24,projecting inwardly toward each other from arms 24 pivoted as at 24 to amanually operable slide 25, movable in a guideway 26, at one side of thestock or handle 10, 0f the gun. Projecting at right angles from theslide is 'a .finger piece 27, which is adapted to be 'ripped foractuating the slide to rotate t e pulley for the winding of the flexiblecord 16, thereon in loading the harpoon within the barrel of the gun.

Slidably mounted within the main barrel 11, is a circular follower blockor striker member 28, the latter encircling the flexible cord -16 anddisposed directl in rear of the han oon 18, when loaded wlthin thebarrel On opposite sides 'of' the barrel 11, and

c'oextensive therewith for a, greater portionI of its length are hollowtubes or cylindrical casings 29, the same'containing in their innerfaces 11 elongated slots 30, which are in register with elongated slots31, at diametrically opposite sides of the barrel-11, and slidable inthese slots are unitingy webs 32,

.iin or wing prevents the free withdrawal of connecting the'followerblock 28, with cylindrical blocks 33, slidably mounted wlthin the tubesor casings 29, and to the forward Aends of these blocks 33 are connectedthe inner ends of coiled retractile springs 34, the same being connectedat their outer ends to'plu s 35'closing the outer extremities of the tues or casings. The said blocks 33, have rearwardly projecting hookcatches 36, which latter are adapted to be engaged by ivotal dogs 37,mounted in slidable mem- Eers 38, within the tubes or casings 29, inrear of the said blocks 33, and these members are formed with fingerloops 39, which project outwardly through slots 40,extendinglongitudinally throughout a greater portion of the length ofthetubes or casings 29, so that when the retractile springs 34, haveshiftedk th'e striker or followerA block 28, to

gagement with the hook catches 36 on the sl1d1n blocks 33, when thelatter have beenv the discharge end of the barrel 11, the said slideblocks 38, will be brought into engagement with the hook catches 36 ofthe blocks 33, and by the fingers of the hand of a person engaging theloops 39, can move the striker or follower block into normal cock`position as will be hereinafter described.

In a suitable recess formed in the forward portion of the stock' is asear or tripping device 40 which latter normally projects through thetubes 29, in the path of movement of the slidable blocks 33 to engageshoulders 41, formed thereon tov lock the blocks in cocked position. Tomaintain the tripping device 40 in its normal position there is provideda leaf spring 42, Xedly held in the recess for the tripping device.Directly in rear of the tripping device 40, and mounted upon a pivot 43,is a trigger 44, the same having a forwardly extending right angularportion 45, engaging the triping device to permit the latter to -bereeased for freeing the slidable blocks- 33, to allow the harpoon to beejected from the ber forming rearwardly and upwardly directed tripperarms 46, which latter engage lugs 47, integral with and projectinginwardly toward each other from the locking dog .37, so as to releasethe same from enbroug t to cocked position'and engaged by the device.'

.In operation the follower blocks are' manually movedrearwardly withinthe tubes 29 against the tension of the retractile sp'rlngs 34 andengaged with the trip device 40 so that said blocks will be locked aainst movement while under the tension'` of t e retractile s rings.These blocks are moved rearward y in the tubes by means -of the slidingblocks y38 having the finger loops 39 to beI engaged by an operator ofthe gun after sai blocks 38 are made to automatlically engage the hookends 36 of thelfollower blocks '33 upon being shifted forwardly throughthe operation of the locking dogs 37. In moving the follower blocks 33rearwardly the striker member 28 is also moved rearwardly,simultaneously therewith. The harpoon 18 is then drawn into the barrel31 by actuating the slide rack 25 which rotates the pulley 15 causingthe winding of the cable 16 thereon whereby, the rear end of the harpoon18 ,will contact with the striker member so that in this manner thedevice is ready for the discharge of the said harpoon. :The discharge ofthe harpoon 18 is effected by the trigger 44 which when actuated willsimultaneously release the sliding blocks 38 from connection with thefollower blocks 33 and the trip device 42 from engagement with ythe saidfollower blocks thereby freeing the same for the forward advancementthereof within the tubes 29 by the retractile springs 34 and due to the4connection of the striker member 28 with the saidA follower blocks theharpoon 18 will vbe ejected under the force of the retractile springs 34from the barrel 31 of the device. The sliding blocks 38 carry pivotallocking dogs 37 which are formed with inwardly projecting lugs, thelocking dogs being adapted to engage with the rear hook ends 36 of thefollower blocks 33, and to disen- 'g'age the said locking dogs' 37 fromthese hooks 36 it is necessary to pull upon the trigger 44 which willeffect the rocking of the member 46, whereupon the ends thereof willengage with the lugs 47 and cause the locking dogs 37 to swing upwardlyon their v pivots and disengage from the hook ends 36 of the followerblocks 33 and thereby release the same from the sliding blocks.

, Connected to the guideway 26 and .to the slide 25 is aretractilelspring 48 the latter being adapted to hold said slide'forwardly o'f the pinion 23. The arms 24 have connected to their innerends an expansion spring 49 the sameswung to hold the. teeth 24 inposition for engagement with thel pinion 23 when theslide is beingactuated.. It will be noted that when one toothed arm 24 is inengagement withl the pinion 23 and actuating the same the other toothedarm 24 is overriding the teeth of the said pinion,.-

-so that upon the reciprocation of said slide the pinion and pulley arerotated in one direction. The slide 25 is lso constructed that its arms24 are of such length -that they are normally out of 'engagement withthe pinion 23.

arranged in Xed parallel relation to.. each other on said stock, astriker member lon i- 1. A device of the class described com- 1.25

prising-a'gun stock, a plurality of barrels other barrels and connectedwith said striker member, retractile means operative upon said followermeans for forwardly advancing the same, manually operable membersdetachably connected with said follower means, a trip device arranged inthe path of movement of thefollower means and adapted to lock the sameagainst the action of the retractile means,and trigger operatedmechanism for simultaneously releasing lthe trip device and the manuallyoperable members from the follower means whereby the latter will-befreed'for actuation by the retractile means. v

2. In a device of the class described a gun barrel, a strikermember,'traversable there- 1n, spring actuatinvr follower meansconnected with saidstrlker member, a trip device arranged in the path ofmovement of' the follower means and engageable therewith for locking thesame against movement by the spring, manually movable means engageablewithl the follower means to bring the same into en agement with the tripdevice, and means or simultaneously releasing the trip device and themanually movable means from said followerwmeans.

3. The combination with a gun having a plurality vof barrels, strikermeans slidable in one of said barrels, follower means slidable in theother barrels and having connection with said striker means, a tripdevice arranged in lthepath of movement of the follower means to lockthe same against moveA ment, means for advancing said follower means,manually operable means for bringing the follower means into engagementwith the trip device, andl means for simultaneously releasing L the tripdevice and said manually operable means lfrom engagement with the saidfollower means.

4. The combination with a gun having a plurality of lbarrels, of astriker element slidable in one of said barrels; follower blocksslidable in the other barrels, a spring controlled device for enga ementwith the follower blocks 'to hold t e same a inst movement, connect-ionsbetween the fo lower blocks and the striker element,spring meansconnected with said follower blocks for forwardly advancing the same,finger actuated slidable blocks arranged in rear of thefollower-"blocks, detachable connections between the slidable andfollower blocks and a trigger for simultaneously' releasing the saiddevice from the follower blocks and the connections between the slidableand 'said fol- Witnesses O. F. HosEA, R. G. ANDERSON.

SAMUEL COLEMAN.

